TORNTO, Canada - The Anaheim Ducks burned a 3-1 lead in the second period and fell 6-4 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday in a physical battle that Anaheim simply did not have an answer for.
The Ducks trailed early in the first, but changed that just as quickly. They scored two goals in less than two minutes to take the lead, first courtesy of Cutter Gauthier for his 33rd of the season and soon after Ian Moore found the back of the net for the fourth time this season to put the Ducks ahead.
It looked like the Ducks were rolling through the Maple Leafs on the way to what would have been the fourth Anaheim win in five games, especially after Pavel Mintyukov added some insurance with a goal of his own early in the second period to improve the Ducks 3-1.
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Toronto Maple Leafs forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx (29) checks Anaheim Ducks forward Jansen Harkins (24) along the boards during the third period at Scotiabank Arena.
The Tides Turning
That's where the Ducks' luck ran out, though. The Maple Leafs stormed ahead for two unanswered goals through the rest of the second period to tie the game and kept piling on after that.
Three more Toronto goals followed in the third period to improve the Maple Leaf lead 6-3 and even though Alex Killorn tacked one more on for Anaheim with a wrist shot with under a minute left in the game, his second goal in as many games, it was far too little, far too late.
A four goal game is still a stellar offensive performance for the Ducks, but what made the difference in the game was the physicality, or lack thereof, from Anaheim.
Losing the Physical Battle
Even though the Ducks outshot the Maple Leafs 40-28, there was a clear disparity against the Ducks when it came to both hits and faceoffs.
Toronto had 34 hits to the Ducks' 15 and Toronto won faceoffs 56.6% of the time.
One of the Ducks' biggest strengths has been their youth and how talented they've been considering their overall age. That youth brings so much energy to the ice and it helps the Ducks push the pace offensively, but that lack of experience definitely shows up in the physical battles.
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Toronto Maple Leafs forward Calle Jarnkrok (19) checks Anaheim Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov (98) during the third period at Scotiabank Arena.
The Ducks didn't receive the end result they were looking for and a game like Thursday's shows that as electric as the Ducks have been offensively, they still have ample room to improve.
